Edwin Bautista, president and chief executive of UnionBank of the Philippines, has forecast that the coronavirus outbreak will drive banks to shift towards digital currencies, leaving physical greenbacks backside.

As Euromoney reported on April 3, Bautista noted that the pandemic provoked a heightened need in online banking services, pushing banks to revise their digitization strategy. "Certainly, this pandemic amplifies the need for all banks to go digital now," Bautista said.

Going further, the exec projected the beginning of the finish of hard cash, especially if central banks neglect to evangelize notes and coins to banks and automatic teller machines. Bautista stated:

"One key realization here is that the longer the disruption, the more tenuous the traditional cash supply chain becomes. Thus I expect that banks will be more than open to testing, developing and deploying digital cash and currencies, QR codes and perchance even cryptocurrencies and digital tokens."

"The crisis volition fast track the shift towards digital," which "represents a tremendous new opportunity for banking," according to Bautista.

UnionBank's experiments with blockchain

UnionBank has indeed demonstrated a proactive arroyo to blockchain-related developments. Last July, the banking company launched a payments-focused stablecoin pegged to the Philippine peso. The money, dubbed PHX, is designed to function as "a stable shop of value, medium of commutation and is a programmable token with self-executing logic."

That same calendar month, UnionBank successfully piloted a blockchain-based cross-border remittance from the Philippines to Singapore. The projection eventually aims to provide millions of unbanked Filipinos with the power to use financial services by connecting rural banks to the country'south main fiscal network.

Meanwhile, other world banks continue to advance the development of their own digital currencies. The Depository financial institution of France officially launched an experimental programme to exam the integration of a central banking concern digital currency (CBDC) for interbank settlements, while the Bahamas announced plans to adopt a CBDC no later than 2022.